My first encounter with yoga was about 4 years ago. I was in school and we had to do it every Monday for one semester as part of our cross-training module.
Back then, I didn’t really enjoy yoga. I found it too slow and repetitive (since whatever is done on the right side will be repeated on the left side). The warrior poses were my worst enemy. My teacher would shout “LOWER!” from across the room when I was already shivering and shaking.
My favourite pose? Well, I’m sure you can guess what it is.
After that semester, I stopped practising yoga. Yet somehow I am here writing this blog post about my yoga journey today on the 21st of May 2021. The girl back in 2017 would have never imagined she would one day go back to practising yoga, let alone attend a YTT course. It’s interesting how life turns out, isn’t it? I’m always so amazed by the way life unfolds and how everything seems to link together at the end of the tunnel.
How I came back to yoga was because of my mental well-being during the lockdown in April 2020. I followed along with the videos on YouTube by Yoga With Adriene, which I highly recommend because I love her voice, and it made me feel a lot calmer and happier. I didn’t really understand how the physical act of yoga could help me manage my emotions (which I now know), but I kept going because I wanted to get better and improve both physically and mentally.
Around August 2020, I thought of expanding my knowledge in yoga and take up a YTT course so that I could have more career options in the future, but I didn’t take up the course back then because the lessons were going to be delivered online and I wanted to learn in person. I let the thought go and continued to practice yoga nonetheless.
Then in April 2021, I came across a YTT advertisement by Tirisula and I just had a very strong urge to do it.
Like it was meant to be?
Like it was screaming to me “JUST DO IT” (perhaps it’s because I’m just an impulsive person).
So I asked my friend Xuan if she was interested in it and wanted to do this together. And she said yes!!! *cues wedding music*
So here we are, on the Friday of the 3rd week of our YTT. I’m just really happy and thankful.
From seeing yoga as a workout that I hated to a self-help tool, it made me realize that perspectives can change— and it’s okay if it does. If we can accept it with an open heart and mind, we will open ourselves up to more possibilities. Who knows, it may even create a new beginning.
— Mandy, 3 May YTT 2021
